A few more Olympics notes and observations ...
-- Give credit to NBC for spreading the wealth with all of the cable networks. It was fun bouncing between the mother ship, CNBC, Bravo, USA Network and MSNBC at different times during the day. I probably should've gone to the gym, where I could've watched NBC, CNBC and USA simultaneously; however, I probably would've been distracted by Best Week Ever or something like that.

-- But as we noticed at work when we got the non-Olympics Bravo feed for a while -- how much of the lineup is Celebrity Poker and Queer Eye? And at one point will my mind start bleeding over from those shows into Olympics coverage? Maybe Dave Foley calling badminton or something? Carson making over some of those Olympic outfits?

-- On the other hand, I think USA Network is more than ready for the U.S. Open when it had the men's doubles gold medal match live in the states until 7 p.m. Eastern and 2 a.m. Sunday morning Greece time. It appears they'll be prepared when Todd Martin has the requisite five-set match that goes until about 1:30 a.m.

-- And a note to the weightlifting announcers, everyone knows attendance has been an issue during the Games, don't lie about a standing room only crowd or a packed crowd in the venue when we can see plenty of empty seats behind you. BTW, how did former NFL linebacker Ray Bentley get a gig as the weightlifting color guy?

-- Oh yeah, we know there's a time difference between Athens and the U.S. Don't try to pretend otherwise during the prime-time and late-night telecasts. We know some of the Bob Costas in-studio interviews are taped ahead of time. Hence, Natalie Coughlin looking really good and ready to hit some clubs after her interview, although in real time it would've been 6 a.m. Greece time (since the interview aired after 11 p.m. Eastern).

But it was a bit ridiculous when the opening shot of Athens during Pat O'Brien's late-night show is Greece covered in darkness. Look, it may be 12:35 a.m. Eastern time, so we know it's early morning in Athens. Heck, the local NBC affiliate just did a live interview with their reporter in Greece during the late news and it's bright sunshine behind him. Just say it up front about what the late-night show is: prime-time (Greece time) events that were on too late to make the cable or daytime NBC coverage, events you want to show that won't make the prime-time cut, and a wrapup of everything else that happened.

In fact, I'm a bit baffled as to why NBC tries to make it a point to show events that took place during the day in Athens during the day in the U.S. and night-time events in Athens during prime-time or late night in the U.S. Most of the live events, except maybe soccer or the 10,000-meter race, were either indoor events with the Vegas effect (you can't tell what time it is) or stuff early in the morning in Greece, and in the middle of the night U.S. time, where you might as well fill the void with actual events.

(I am amused when NBC does the promo for the multi-channel coverage during the prime-time show. "Coming up at 2 a.m. on MSNBC ..." "Coming up at 4 a.m. on Bravo ..." "Coming up at at 7 a.m. on USA Network ..." They're pretty much telling you, "If you have no life and actually want to watch Olympic events as they're actually unfolding, here's how we're going to appease you. ... Why can't you just wait for Bob Costas tonight?")